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Plymouth outlasts Triton in OT

BOURBON — The Plymouth Lady Pilgrims and the Class A No. 6 Triton Lady Trojans played a game of runs Thursday night at the Trojan Trench.
The visitors used one final one to outlast the hosts in overtime, 39-36.
Triton opened the game up with a fast-paced offense and tough zone defense to jump out to an 11-6 lead after one quarter. Shana Anderson started the scoring with a basket off a Mallorie Jennings assist. Jennings picked up two points of her own on the next possession, and a baseline drive and lay-up by Taylor Hatfield got the Lady Trojans rolling.
“We were able to push the ball up the court early in the game,” Triton coach Adam Heckaman said. “That is what we want to do. Run the floor a little bit.”
Plymouth struggled offensively in the first frame.
Amber Redinger hit back-to-back buckets early in the quarter, but it took the Lady Pilgrims more than four minutes to light up the scoreboard again. Triton forced the Plymouth offense outside the 3-point line for most of the quarter. Redinger was able to get an offensive rebound at the 2:18 mark and laid it back up for the final Plymouth score of the quarter.
Plymouth came out in the second quarter with some fire of its own on both sides of the ball.
Lauren Tanner found Redinger under the basket for two and cut the Triton lead to six points. The Lady Pilgrims used a 10-0 run over the next six minutes of the game to pull out in front of the Lady Trojans. Tanner got an offensive rebound and put-back to give Plymouth its first lead of the game at 15-14 with 3:49 left in the half. Plymouth continued to hold Triton scoreless until Krystal Sellers hit a shot with 1:12 left in the quarter. Hunter Stevens ended the half on a positive note for Plymouth, scoring two baskets in the last 25 seconds to put the visitors up 20-16 at halftime.
“The second quarter we talked to the girls about where the ball needed to go,” Plymouth coach Dave Duncan said about his team’s adjustments. “We got Hunter in the middle and she was able to make some things happen.”
The Lady Pilgrims continued their defensive pressure at the start of the second half. Once again Plymouth wouldn’t allow a Lady Trojan score for more than five minutes, this time to open the quarter and allow them to jump out to a 12-point lead.
“Until our offense comes around we have to rely on our defense to carry us a little bit,” Duncan said. “There were so many plays that our kids were able to get touches on the ball, and it took them out of their rhythm a little bit tonight.”
Plymouth was able to use its height advantage in the second half to get some quick scores.
Tanner scored on an assist by Allie Wright after a long rebound by Haley Harrell and then found herself starting the same combination of plays that ended in a traditional 3-point play by Redinger to put the Lady Pilgrims up 12 halfway through the quarter.
Triton still had some fight left in the fourth quarter and was able to force the Lady Pilgrims to turn the ball over in their last nine possessions of regulation. The Lady Trojans gained a little more confidence when Anderson, the team’s leading scorer, found the bottom of the net for only her second made basket of the game with 2:58 to play. That basket cut the Plymouth lead to seven points. Two free throws by Jennings and a 3-point play by Breanna Lemler cut the lead down to two with just over two minutes left in the game. Triton finally tied the game up on a drive and bucket by Sellers to end the quarter and force overtime.
The two teams battled back and forth in the overtime period. Triton scored first on a basket by Lemler off a nice pass from Sellers to give the Lady Trojans its first lead since halfway through the second quarter. Plymouth cut the lead to one when Kaydon Fosler was fouled and hit the first bonus free throw and regained the lead on a Redinger basket.
Triton took one more lead on two foul shots by Hatfield with 1:04 left in the extra period.
Redinger scored once again for the Lady Pilgrims, and a free throw by Hunter Stevens with :08 left sealed the win for Plymouth.
Hatfield led Triton offensively with nine points. Jennings, Mason and Sellers all played well-rounded games, each scoring six points.
“We have a lot of kids that can score. Other kids stepped up and kept us in the game. Mallorie (Jennings) played a good game, Sellers played hard and always does a good job for us,” Heckaman said. “We just made some bad decisions that cost us points at times. They were able to get out and score some layups off of them. This is a good opportunity for us to learn and get better.”
Redinger paced the Lady Pilgrims with 13 points and 16 rebounds. Stevens chipped in 13 points of her own, and Tanner had four steals for Plymouth.
Triton drops to 2-1 on the season but won’t have much time to think about the loss as they travel to South Central tonight for an 8 p.m. contest.
Plymouth improves to 2-0 and will have its home opener against Valparaiso on Saturday. Game time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
• PLYMOUTH 39, TRITON 36
At Triton
Score by quarters
Plymouth: 6 20 30 32 39
Triton: 11 16 23 32 36
PLYMOUTH (39): Lauren Tanner 2 1-3 5, Andria Shook 0 1-2 1, Hunter Stevens 5 3-7 13, Kaydon Fosler 0 1-2 1, Haley Harrell 2 0-0 4, Allie Wright 1 0-0 2, Amber Redinger 6 1-3 13; Totals: 16 7-17 39
TRITON (36): Allie Kann 0 0-0 0, Taylor Hatfield 2 4-4 9, Breanna Lemler 2 1-3 5, Krystal Sellers 3 0-0 6, Kylie Mason 2 0-0 6, Mallorie Jennings 2 2-3 6, Shana Anderson 2 0-0 4; Totals: 13 7-10 36
3-point goals: Plymouth 0, Triton 3 (Hatfield, Mason 2); Turnovers: Plymouth 26 (Harrell 8, Wright 8), Triton 22 (Sellers 8); Rebounds: Plymouth 41 (Redinger 16), Triton 27 (Lemler 4, Jennings 4, Anderson 4); Assists: Plymouth 12 (Wright 4), Triton 8 (Jennings 3); Steals: Plymouth 21 (Tanner 4), Triton 21 (Mason 4); Fouls (fouled out): Plymouth 10 (None), Triton 15 (None).
Records: Plymouth 2-0, Triton 2-1